PHOENIX — Four schools that are being used as polling locations in Navajo County received bomb threats on Election Day, the FBI said in a statement to 12News.
Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said these are unsubstantiated threats.
"We have no reason to believe that any of our voters or our polling places are in any sort of jeopardy," Fontes said in his 3 p.m. news briefing.
The FBI, state and local partners are aware of the threats and are actively assessing the matter, the FBI told 12News.
The FBI said it is too early to tell if the threats in Navajo County are tied to the Russian email involved in other threats. Several polling locations in several states received bomb threats, "many of which appear to originate from Russian email domains," the FBI wrote in a statement earlier today.
"None of the threats have been determined to be credible thus far," the FBI said in a news release.
However, Fontes said in his news conference there is reason to believe the threats came from Russian actors.
"We do however believe that invoking chaos and trying to get us to kind of rattle in our boots is the reason they're doing this," Fontes said.
In a later news conference, Fontes said the emailed bomb threats came from an .RU email address, but that doesn't necessarily mean the threats are coming from Russia.
“It doesn’t necessarily mean that these are coming from Russia, we have no confirmed attribution that the .RU address being used in these bomb threat emails is directly from the Russian Federation,” Fontes said. “The motive appears to be to invoking chaos, not to impact any political outcome.”
You can now watch 12News content anytime, anywhere thanks to the 12News+ app!
The free 12News+ app from 12News lets users stream live events — including daily newscasts like "Today in AZ" and "12 News" and our daily lifestyle program, "Arizona Midday"—on Roku and Amazon Fire TV.
12News+ showcases live video throughout the day for breaking news, local news, weather and even an occasional moment of Zen showcasing breathtaking sights from across Arizona.
Users can also watch on-demand videos of top stories, local politics, I-Team investigations, Arizona-specific features and vintage videos from the 12News archives.
Roku: Add the channel from the Roku store or by searching for "12 News KPNX."
Amazon Fire TV: Search for "12 News KPNX" to find the free 12News+ app to add to your account, or have the 12News+ app delivered directly to your Amazon Fire TV through Amazon.com or the Amazon app.
Decision 2024
Track all of our current updates with the upcoming elections in Arizona on our 12News YouTube channel. Subscribe for updates on all of our new uploads.